By CHRISTINE L. PRATT, Daily Record (Wooster, Ohio)

MILLERSBURG — Time is ticking, as the expiration date approaches for a 9-1-1 fee assessed to all cell phone users in Ohio.

The issue was a topic of conversation at a recent meeting of the Eastern Ohio Development Alliance, according to Holmes County Commissioner Ray Eyler, who brought it up at Monday’s commissioners meeting.

“The consensus is it needs to remain, otherwise it comes out of the general fund for the county,” said Eyler, adding that at 28 cents per phone, “a lot of people don’t even know it’s there.”

The 9-1-1 system in Holmes County previously was funded by a sales tax, which was dropped several years ago when it was determined the interest generated by tax revenues would support operations into the future, according to Commissioner Rob Ault, noting that prediction has not held completely true.

At the time the tax was eliminated, interest rates were higher than they are now, and it is not enough to sustain into the future, Ault said, adding that combined with increasing demands to purchase more and more expensive equipment, “we have to find out how we’re going to fund it in the future.”

“For me, personally, I don’t have a problem paying 28 cents, knowing they can track me wherever I’m at,” he said of the GPS functionality available within the 9-1-1 system for cellular phones.

While many of those state legislators at the EODA meeting seemed to be in concurrence, Eyler said it’s important for himself, his colleagues, other officials and the public to “get a hold of our legislators and let them know we need this.”

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